The Lost Princess
by Andrea1
Summary: Princess Katarina of Tellarne is being forced to marry. She runs away to Tortall to become a knight. On the way though she developes a bad case of Amnesia. I know a lot of stories start out with princesses being forced to marry and run away, but just read
1. The Marriage

The Lost Princess  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize from Tamora Pierce's books.  
  
chapter 1  
Princess Katarina was lying on her bed staring at the intricate designs on the ceiling. She had just gotten back from all her secret classes; Shang fighting, fencing, wrestling, learning how to use her magic (if father found out he would probably hang her). She was tired out and wanted to take a nap but her father had just spoken with her and now a new thought kept her awake.   
How could her father want her to marry already? And to Lord Leonard of LePeuw, of all people! She was her fathers least favorite, even though she was the oldest and was entitled to most of his inheritance, I mean he had seven other daughters to be favorites. Anyway he hated magic and she had wild magic from her great grandmother and the gift from her late mother (father had her executed when he found out about her gift). None of her sisters had any magic and that's why he liked them more. The only reason she was still alive was because she was his own daughter and would be the crown Queen of Tellarne once he died. The more she thought about it the more it came clear to her. Lord LePeuw had always taken a liking to her (she was very pretty; medium-dark brown hair, sapphire blue eyes, fair skin, and full red lips), and father must of struck up a deal with him not to let me accept my place as queen (in Tellarne husbands always spoke for their wives). That way Laurainne who was probably going to marry some rich prince would be queen. She hated her father and especially now. She had been close to her mother the five years she knew her and she hasn't talked to her father much for the last three years. When she thought about her mother it made her hate her father even more and she hated his stupid plan for swindling her out of being queen. She didn't want to be queen anyway, she always wanted to become a knight of Tortall, like the Lioness Alanna. Her mother would tell her stories about the Lioness and Kat (all of her close friends including her mother called her Kat) would always dream it would be her someday. At last she had made up her mind; she was going to run away. And at that she went to sleep.  
She woke up early the next morning and did some exercises. She packed her bag, and dressed in some cream colored breeches and a sky blue tunic. Nothing in her bag was royal, she didn't want to be reminded of her past. The only thing that said she was a princess was the royal blue tattoo around her right wrist. It was made of fascinating swirls and lines that would be almost impossible to copy unless you were trained to do it your whole life (which some people were and they worked at the palace, that was their only job). It wasn't too big, though, and she could cover it up with the bracelet Devon (her best friend) had given her. Speaking of Devon she was about to go see him. She went down to the stables; it was still dark out.   
Hello Nightstar. She said with her wild magic. You'll never guess what father did to me. Her horse rolled her eyes; Hmmm he wants you to marry and so you're running away. Kat wasn't shocked, her chestnut mare wasn't just any horse, they had known each other so long that she could read her masters mind (most of the time). You know me too well, she sighed and went off to get her saddle and brush. Soon she was off riding to Devon's house in town. When she got there she climbed through the window of his bedroom.   
"Devon!" she whispered. He woke up with a start, rolled out of bed and fell to the floor. Kat was rolling on the ground with laughter at the look on his face when she first woke him up and the sight of him lying sprawled on the ground in his boxers. When she finally had herself under control she told him the whole story.   
"Wow Kat," he said at last, "yer actually gonna go to Tortall. That's great!"  
"Yeah,"  
"But what'll ye do once ye get there? Yer too young a lass ta start yer training as a knight."  
"I don't know, get a job so I have a place to stay for a few years. I'm just not staying here and marrying that old pig!"  
"Yeah I know and I don't want ye to either. It's just, I'm gonna miss ye m'lady."  
"You know I hate it when you call me that." She said hanging her head to hide her blush.  
"I know. Gods, it's gonna be so different without ye. Who am I gonna go ridd'n with and who's gonna make fun of ol' Pancho with me?"  
That made Kat giggle. "I'll miss you." She said, "But I'll write."  
She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek and left.   
Down at the boat docks she went to speak with the captain of a large vessel heading for Tortall.   
"Sorry miss," he said, "but we don' have enough room left ter take yer horse. And yer gonna have to hurry 'cause we're leavin' soon."  
"But..." she stammered. She glanced back up at the castle, there were already soldiers coming down the hill from the palace. She saw a messenger also headed for Lord LePeuw's estate. Both her father and Lord LePeuw's soldiers would be searching for her soon. I could just surrender and run away later, she thought, but by the time the next boat sailed she would be married to a grumpy old man and if she weren't her father would keep a close watch on her till she was.  
"Miss are ye comin' or not. We are boarding up right now!"  
"Yes I'm coming." She explained it to Nightstar. I promise I'll come back for you. Once things here cool down I'll sneak back and take you. I wont start training without you.  
The mare looked at her, I understand, she said but Kat could see disappointment in her eyes. Kat stood there and watched her mare make her way back to the castle. Then she boarded the ship.  
She went down to her room and woke up later, very sick. They were caught in the middle of a huge storm and the boat was almost rolling in circles. She got up to find a bucket or something since her stomach definitely wasn't agreeing with her. While she was walking down a hallway the boat jerked and she fell. Her head landed on the corner of a table and everything went black.  
  
A/N: Please Review, I'll post the next chapter if people review. Praise, constructive criticism, and flames are all welcome.   
  



	2. Amnesia

The Lost Princess  
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is Tamora's  
chapter 2  
When she finally gained consciousness again she was   
lying in a room, slowly rocking back and forth. She just laid   
there and did not open her eyes, one side of her head was   
stinging badly she had a very bad headache. There were   
voices in the room.   
"Will she be ok?" one voice said.  
"I dunno know she was out cold when I found her and   
has been like that for the last three days. She better wake up   
before we get to Tortall or we'll have no where to put her."  
She opened her eyes, "Where am I?"  
"Yer on yer way to Tortall."  
The name sounded familiar. Why was she going to   
Tortall? Actually she couldn't even remember who she was   
or anything as a matter of fact. She was just about to tell   
them that when a large burly man entered the room.   
"So the li'l lass is awake."  
"Aye Capt'n!"  
"Who am I? Who are you? Where am I? What am I   
doing here?" Questions came flooding out of her mouth at   
the Captain.  
'Hold it lass. I can't answer 'em all, but if I   
remember correct ye introduced yerself as Katarina, told me   
to call ye Kat."   
Oh yeah, that helps me a lot, she thought rolling her   
eyes. Well, at least I don't have to go through the trouble of   
picking out a name.  
She sat back to think, what was she going to do next?   
While she thought everyone left the room except a young   
sailor.   
"Can I get ye anything miss?"  
She looked up, there was a boy about fourteen sitting   
on a stool across the room from her bed. He was a fairly   
good size, had red hair and green eyes.   
"Water," she said, then remembering her manners   
added, "if you could, please."  
When he left to fetch her some she finally got a chance   
to look around the room. It looked like a normal ship's cabin   
to her, except there was an opened bag in one corner and a   
few clothes were hanging out. She guessed this was her   
room. Funny, she thought, I remember almost everything   
knowledge-wise or that can be taught to you but nothing   
about me or my past.  
"Here ye are miss." A voice woke her from her   
thoughts. The boy had returned with her water. She sat up   
to drink it but pain and dizziness came rushing to her head.  
"Ow!" She said as she lifted a hand to her head.  
"Oh," he said, "I forgot about that. Let me have a look   
at it." She leaned forward so he could look at it. "Hmm,   
that's strange," he muttered to himself.  
"What's strange."  
"Oh, its just that ye had a pretty nasty gash from where   
ye hit the table but its healing a lot quicker than I thought   
possible." She finally took the water from him and began to   
drink.  
"Thank you, umm..."  
"Will," he interrupted, "ye can call me Will."  
"Well thank you Will." She talked with him for some   
time, about Tellarne (where she figured she must be from),   
Tortall, the immortals war which just ended that year, and   
many other things. He had to leave after a while though   
because they were arriving in Tortall and he was needed on   
deck.  
As she walked off the ship she waved good-bye to Will   
and then walked off towards the busy Port Leghanne market   
place to look for a job.   
Kat sat down, exhausted. She had been to about every   
shop, saloon, and person she saw but none of them were   
hiring. I'm getting nowhere, she said to herself, well I take   
that back, I have a few memories back. Mostly stories she'd   
heard about Alanna the Lioness and Daine the Wildmage.   
Her two hero's she remembered. She also remembered a   
lady and a boy who would tell them to her. The lady, she   
figured was her mother, because she resembled her a lot, but   
all the memories she has of her are from when she was a   
little child.  
She got up and went to a coral of horses that were to be   
sold. She leaned on the fence and the horses came over to   
her.   
"Hello beauties." She said patting some on the head   
and stroking others necks. She looked around and her eyes   
settled on a young girl a few years younger than her. The   
girl's father was trying to get her to pet one of the horses but   
it was clear that she was frightened.  
"What if it bites me?" the girl asked.  
"It wont bite you honey, this is a nice horse, see." He   
held out his hand and let the horse sniff it then petted it.  
"But I'm scared daddy, they're so big."  
"Sweetie you're going to start your riding lessons this   
year and you need a pony."  
"What if I don't want to learn how to ride?"  
"Listen, you stay here and when you're ready to pet the   
horses you can. I need to look for a maid, since Nonny left."  
What! He needed a maid, Kat thought, aren't I lucky.   
She slowly made her way over to him.   
"I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't help but overhear that you   
are in need of a maid."  
"Well," he said, "I am, but aren't you a bit young."  
"Oh please sir, I will work very hard."  
"Ok, I guess, it's only for a few chores around the   
house. Well, than I guess you're hired. Get your things   
together and I'll bring you to the place we are staying. Then   
you can watch Rianne while she picks out her horse. I'm   
going to go lie down."  
Kat and Rianne both leaned on the fence and watched   
the horses.   
"Have you found one you like?"  
"Umm, kind of. I think the one in the corner is pretty."  
The horse in the corner was a beautiful strawberry   
pony. It was shy and hadn't come up to them to be patted   
by Kat like the others had.   
"Well, let's see if we can introduce you two."  
The man who owned the horses went in and led it out   
so they could have a better look at it. Rianne was scared at   
first, but after I told her that the horse she picked out was   
probably just as scared as her, she reached out a hand. The   
pony stepped back at first then leaned forward and sniffed   
it. At last she lipped it and then nudged Rianne with her   
soft muzzle.  
"Oooh," said a very pleased and excited Rianne, "it's so   
soft. You know, horses aren't as scary as I thought they   
were."  
Two days later they were riding to fief Kalla, about   
twelve miles away from Port Leghanne. Baron Stephen was   
riding on one horse with his daughter Rianne, Kat rode on   
Rianne's new pony Strawberry Field. When they got to the   
fief her breath was taken away. It was beautiful.   
Rianne saw the look on Kat's face, "Welcome to Kalla."  
  
A/N: So do you like the second chapter? Review please and   
again anything is welcome. Black robed mage *fire mage*   
thank you for reviewing, and Kat was 8 in the last chapter,   
I'm sorry I didn't make that clearer, it said she knew her   
mother for 5 years and her father executed her 3 years ago   
but you would really have to have someone point that out to   
you to realize it I guess. Kat's father doesn't like magic   
because very few people have it in Tellarne and so (kind of   
like Liam) don't understand it and are scared of it, also I   
think he is just jealous. Smiles-a-lot thank you for reviewing.   
~*Keller*~ thank you for reviewing and yes it is my first fic.   
I didn't realize the mind speech wasn't in italics till you told   
me, on my original draft it was but it went away when I   
transferred it to a text thing and now I don't know how to   
make it italic, sorry it's kind of hard to read.  
  



	3. 

The Lost Princess  
chapter 3  
  
A/N: I finally got the THIRD CHAPTER out. I'm very happy with myself, but sorry it took so long I'm suffering from writers block so bear with me.  
  
At Kalla, Rianne gave Kat a tour. Then introduced her to Millie, the head maid.   
"So dear, yer the new girl."  
"Yes, ma'am."  
"Well ye would be takin' Nonny's duties, but since yer so small then I think we can arrange somethin' else."  
"I'm not that small," said Kat, offended. "I can handle the tasks."  
"Well, let's see now," Millie could tell she had hurt the girls feelings, telling her she couldn't handle the tasks, and tried to make her feel better. "What do ye like to do?"  
"I like the horses and other animals. But I can cook and clean and other stuff. I'll work real hard."  
"Hmm, I think I have jus' the thing for ye."  
Later, Millie was talking to the baron in his study.   
"So how is the little girl? I hope you didn't give her all of Nonny's tasks"  
"She's fine sir, I let her work in the stables with George and do a few chores here and there. Said she loved animals. Martha's been want'n to get out of the stables for ever so now she takes care of Nonny's duties. But I tell ya sir, that girl is a stubborn one. Said she'd do all of Nonny's duties, she did, an' would'n back down till I offered her the job at the stables. I'm glad George'll oversee her not me."  
"Good, good. I was thinking, will she have much free time? Rianne's taken a liking to her, I was quite surprised since she's pretty shy and doesn't like to mingle much. Well that will be all."  
Kat had been working for Baron Stephen for about nine months now and was liking it immensely. She got to work with the horses, which she loved, and had extra time to play with Rianne, who she was very fond of. Kat walked into the stable and the horses all leaned their heads out of their stall to be petted by her as she walked by.   
She now had some of her memory back, like she remembered she had been running away from something. She remembered the boy's name was Devon, and was her friend, she often had dreams where they were riding together. One dream puzzled her though, in it they rode up to a palace and she put her horse in the stable and went inside. Did she worked there? At the stables possibly, George always said she was a natural. Then one reddish horse sniffed her all over and then gently nudge her, breaking her from her thoughts.  
"Sorry Strawberry, I don't have anything for you today." The horse looked disappointed, "Don't give me that look it's not my job to give you treats, just feed you the oats that everyone else eats and care for you. Now come here so I can work on the tangles in your tail." She brightened up a bit and walked over to Kat stopping when her tail was just in front of her. Someone laughed.  
"I swear Kat, those horses understand ye," said a tall somewhat gangly man smiling down at her from the loft.  
"Hello George." Kat smiled back at him, then heard a voice behind her.  
"Hey Kat."  
"Hi Rianne. What are you doing?"  
"I get to skip my etiquette class because I'm being tested for the Gift again."  
"Why now? Wouldn't they know by now if you had it?"  
"Well some people's doesn't show up really till later on and all the women in my family have it so father thinks it might show up later in my life. Do you have the Gift?"  
Kat sorted through her few memories, had she been tested before? "I don't know, I can't remember if I was ever tested."  
"Well you can come with me, I'm sure the mage will be happy to test you too."  
"Err . . Ok, just let me finish up here and I'll come."  
"Ok, see you in a few minutes."  
I don't think I have the Gift, thought Kat. Wouldn't I be able to feel something at least. She went in one of the stalls to brush it's occupant while she thought. What if I do have it? Would I have to leave Kalla to get training? I don't want to leave Kalla, this is my only family.   
She had been at Kalla for a year and a half and had grown to love everyone there, especially Rianne. They had become quite good friends.   
"Kat, don' ye think it's about time to head up there?" It was George.  
"Goddess George how long has it been?"  
"Don' git too worried, it's only been about a half an hour."  
"Still I am supposed to be up there in about five minutes, can you finish with Lightning's hooves for me?"  
"Sure, git outta here."  
Kat ran up to the castle as fast as she could.  
"Oh good your here, I thought you had forgot and I would have to come down and get you." Kat sighed and followed Rianne up the stairs.  
"Well hello." Said a medium-tall man with red hair and gray eyes. Kat guessed he must be the mage that was testing them. "Rianne," he nodded to her, "and you must be Katarina." Kat blushed no one called her by her full name anymore.  
"Please call me Kat."  
"Ok Kat, I'm Andrew I think I will start with Lady Rianne, come here." Rianne stepped forward and sat down in a chair, you could tell she had done this before. Andrew put his hands on her temples and opal white magic flowed around her. In about fifteen minutes he took his hands off her temple and the magic disappeared. Rianne opened her eyes and looked up at him.  
"Anything there." Kat saw disappointment in her eyes, she obviously thought she still had nothing.  
"Actually I did find something. It's pretty weak but I have reason to believe it will grow stronger." Rianne's face lit up at this.   
"I'm going to go tell father!" She jumped up and went bounding out of the room. Kat and Andrew could hear her all the way down the hall, "I have magic! I have magic! Can you believe it?"  
"Ok Kat your turn." She walked over and sat in the chair like she had seen Rianne do. Andrew placed his hands on her temples but quickly pulled them back as if he just touched a hot skillet.   
"What," Kat asked, "is something wrong?"  
"Um, no nothing." He put his hands on her temples again and this time did not pull back. She saw the white magic flow around her and closed her eyes. It only took him about ten minutes this time.   
"Well do you see anything?" Kat asked him anxiously.  
"Yes, you do have the gift, and quite a lot of it. But . . . there's also something else. I don't know what it is. If you don't mind I would like you to come to the palace to see Master Numair Salmalin, he will know what it is. Now I'll go talk to Baron Stephen and see if we can arrange something." And he left.   
Kat started to walk down to the stables thinking. Well I do have the Gift and he said a very strong one but it is mixed with something. Now I'm going to go to the palace to find out what. At least I wont be staying there too long and will get to come back after a few months. Well it's getting late and I'm probably going back with the mage in the morning so I need my rest.  
That night while Kat was sleeping she had a nightmare. She was at her mother's execution. It was all very confusing, first of all, her mother was dressed in very elegant robes of brilliant shades of blues and purples. Also it looked like the whole city was there to watch including many important officials, even who she guessed was the king. She was about five and was watching from the palace window, hot tears streaking silently down her cheek. 'Noooooo!!!' she heard herself scream, but it was too late. A maid pulled her away from the window. She ran and flung herself down on her bed. She cried and cried till she had no tears left.   
Kat awoke as a single tear rolled down her cheek onto her hand. It was still night but she couldn't get back to sleep. She went down from her loft in the stables and saddled one of the horses. She rode of into the crisp cool night.  
When she returned the mage was already saddling his horse.   
"Ahh," he said smiling. "There you are. Ready?"  
"Yes," she whispered, still thinking about her nightmare. She brought the horse she had just been riding back to the stables and took the one George offered to her.   
"Well I really appreciate you letting us borrow her Baron." The mage was saying, "It's really important that we know what else she has."  
"Of course, anything to help the crown. As long as you bring her back." The Baron answered, winking at Kat.  
After Kat said her good-byes they set out. Little did she know that this trip would change her whole life.  
  
A/N:  
Black robed mage thanks again for reviewing and I'm glad that Kat is relatable. And thanks also to Charisma Jo for reviewing, by the way I really liked your Kalasin's Adventure and your Ana's Knighthood story (please keep writing it). I really don't get this whole text thing it's extremely confusing so I apologize again for it being hard to read.  
  



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